Black smoke when driving

[Adam King]

Hello all,

I need some help with a situation. I bought a 'parts truck' on eBay that blows black smoke. It's a 1993 K3500 with about 229k on the odometer. I have to pick it up in New Mexico which is about an 1100 mile trip for me that I had planned on trailering if I had to. I spoke with the guy who sold it to me today and he said that the truck runs great and doesn't smoke when idling. He said that once you get out on the highway and open it up it starts to smoke. I haven't dealt with the TD's at all yet but would I be safe to assume that this could be a turbo related issue?

I am actually hoping that it's one of those stories you here where the guy couldn't figure out what was wrong and you pull a bird nest out of the intake hose and then drive it home with a huge smile on your face. Even if it is a fairly big repair, I only paid $1814 for it and it's rust free, which is hard to come by in Minnesota. Already has a gooseneck hitch too.

-AFK

[moondoggie]

Good Day!

Well, no one that's qualified has answered, so here goes...

From what I've read here on the Page over the years, the 93 has a DB2 IP (no electronics), & some sort of mechanical wastegate actuator. If it were me (& remember, I've earned my reputation as cheapest guy on the Page), I'd bring any gauge I had that would read 10 or 20 PSI, & some way to plumb it into the intake. I've been temporarily monitoring boost in my 95 pickup with an old-fashioned vacuum/pressure gauge for ~ 3 years now.

When you get there, find out if the wastegate actuator is working or not. If not, if a guy is careful, you can remove it & use a piece of wire, as long as you're monitoring boost. I drove my 95 pickup this way for over a year - too cheap to buy a new wastegate actuator. (I never did buy one, BTW - I fixed mine!) When I did this on my pickup, I'd get ~ 6 PSI boost max, which only made gray smoke at max load pulling a 4000 lb trailer; running empty, you should be able to get good function with no smoke.

A caution: I did this B4 joining the Page. After I joined, I read about folks getting 10 PSI boost, so all a sudden 6 PSI wasn't enough. Sooooo, I found there was a little slack in my wire & tightened 'er up. Later that morning, when pulling the EB 94 hill @ Hudson WI, my boost gauge came up so fast I thought she was gonna make a couple full turns, the SES light went on, & the PCM pulled fuel, likely saving my engine; this all happened a lot quicker than the telling. (The code was overboost.) I drove careful for the rest of this (short) trip; when I arrived at my destination, I put a little slack back in my wire, & subsequently fixed the factory vacuum-operated Wastegate Actuator.

Blessings!

[Beedee]

Has the aircleaner element been checked???
Plugged filter will cause smoke and power loss, might be the cheap fix you were hopping for ;)

[Adam King]

That's what I am hoping for, the guy said he suspected the injectors but I don't think he knows much about diesels. When I talked to him on the phone he said the he had changed the "gas filters" on the truck. I suspect it was a shot in the dark for him because fuel is clearly in good supply. I am tempted to take a road trip down to that area and check on the truck before I drag a trailer down there to bring it home.

Would the 6.5L manual that the Diesel Page publishes be a good thing to diagnose the problem? Like I said, I don't have any experiance with turboes.

-AFK

[autocrosser]

Check your cat converter if it has one. It may be plugged.